Devil May Cry walkthrough/M23
Mother's Guide is the twenty-third and final mission in Devil May Cry. Walkthrough (lower difficulties) Dante is on a five minute timer, and has to get from the white temple-like room where the previous mission started to the workshop with the biplane. This is more than enough time, so resist the temptation to rush when fighting enemies in this mission. Sparda is embedded in the ground next to Trish and cannot be picked back up, so Dante will have to do without it in this mission. Start out by walking back across the room (or Stinger out for speed) and cross the room with the heart to get to the room where [[Devil May Cry walkthrough/M21|Mission 21: Living Cave]] started. There is a single Frost located here near the Divinity Statue (or on Easy Automatic a pair of Plasmas), but the room is not sealed and the player can simply ignore it if they wish. Regardless, the only way out is through the white membrane, back to the room where Dante defeated Nightmare. This room seals as Dante enters, forcing him to fight a pair of small Nobodies. If the player chose not to pick up the Untouchable in this room at the start of Mission 21, they should grab it before continuing on. The next room has another single Frost on Normal or another Nobody on Easy Automatic, which can also be ignored if the player desires. Break through the membrane, run up the corridor and examine the red circle on the floor to return to the Mirror World Cathedral. Here, run around the gateway to the Underworld and jump on the eyeball platform, which will rise up and take Dante back to the normal Cathedral. At this point a second mission intro card is shown: this one only has the "Mission Start" option, so just click through it and continue. There are Marionettes in the Cathedral which can be fought or ignored as the player wishes. Proceed through the door to the long hallway. In the long hallway is another sealed-room battle, this time with a pair of Blades: on Easy Automatic it is instead a group of blue Beelzebubs. It is a good idea to use the Grenadegun and avoid using Devil Trigger in this fight, in order to build it up for the upcoming boss. Once they are defeated, step into the workshop with the biplane. Walk into the room and the floor will collapse, dumping Dante into a battle with... Boss: Mundus Dante is now in the room where he picked up the Rusty Key back in [[Devil May Cry walkthrough/M06|Mission 06: Evil of the Waterways]]. He is trapped up against the wall where the Key was, while Mundus starts out at the other end of the room. A pile of fallen rubble prevents Dante from escaping through the door. This new form of Mundus crawls forward on his hands as damage gradually destroys the statue's majestic exterior, revealing the chaotic mass of flesh underneath. He has the following abilities in this form: *Green beam: Mundus sweeps a green beam from the right of the screen to the left twice during the battle. If Dante is standing right in front of Mundus the beam will pass over his head: if he is further back, it is necessary to jump. *Splatter: Striking Mundus with melee attacks will occasionally create a similar gore-splatter AoE effect to a Nobody's death animation, dealing minor damage. *Roar: Mundus raises his head high and bellows. He does this twice during the battle: it is not an attack, and is only notable because Mundus is invincible during this animation. *Crush: The principle threat in this fight. As Mundus approaches the far wall, the same brightly-colored tentacles seen in Mission 21 will start to sprout from his body. These do nothing by themselves, but indicate that the player is running out of space. If the battle continues much longer, Mundus will rear up and crush Dante with his bulk, killing him instantly. If the player has Vortex Level 2, this boss is rendered trivial as all that is necessary is to drop down when Mundus is at roughly half health since his beam attack can sometimes catch a frame of Vortex that is not an i-frame. Air Raid is also good here. If the DT Gauge runs out, throw out a Round Trip and use two-handed taunts to build it back up quickly. Dashing in to use Ifrit's Inferno is riskier, but will do a lot of damage, and Meteor can be effective too. When Mundus' health is depleted, a cutscene will play. After the cutscene, Dante only has to enter Devil Trigger and fire a shot from Ebony & Ivory to finish the demon off. If the player does not have the required three runes of DT Gauge, they can either taunt Mundus a couple of times, or perform a Charged Shot which will instantly fill the entire DT gauge. After Mundus Mundus is defeated, but there is one last challenge for the player before the game is over. Dante is now piloting the old biplane which crashed through the ceiling: it controls more or less exactly like Dante's Sparda transformation in the Mundus 1 fight, including the stick being inverted and the D-pad not. The controls are surprisingly deep for such a short section, but the only thing other than movement that really matters is the shoot buttons, which fire the biplane's machine gun. The escape sequence fully restores the vitality gauge (presumably because this is the plane's health rather than Dante's) and tasks the player with steering to avoid various rock formations as the plane automatically follows a twisting escape path. It is very difficult to die in this sequence, but equally difficult to avoid taking some damage. Always keep the machine gun firing to take out any destroyable rock formations ahead of the plane. If trying to complete the mission without damage, it is best to watch a video run of the level to plan out where the indestructible hazards are and how to avoid them. The player can get to the second low-lying cave without even touching the stick, then they will need to have Dante veer right and then back left to avoid a rock pillar in the middle of the cavern. When the tunnel starts to twist, right after each 360 degree spin, dodge to the left slightly, and after the second dodge to the right afterwards. Once the plane reaches the end of the course, the mission and the game are complete. Higher difficulties Rather than Blades, the long corridor contains a single Shadow. In Dante Must Die mode, the single Frost fought after the sealed-room battle with the Nobodies is also a sealed-room battle. Post-game A number of rewards can be unlocked on beating the game, depending on the selected difficulty. *If the player has beaten Easy Automatic, nothing is unlocked. The player can only proceed into New Game+ in Easy Automatic. *If the player has beaten Normal, they will be given the opportunity to save their game. Loading this completed save will start New Game+ in Hard. *If the player has beaten Hard, they can start New Game+ in Dante Must Die, and will gain the option to start a new game in either Hard or Dante Must Die mode. In addition, the ability to start a new game as "The Legendary Dark Knight," Dante's father Sparda, will be unlocked. *If the player has beaten Dante Must Die, they will unlock the ability to start a new game as "Super Dante," a mode which gives infinite Devil Trigger. *If the player has completed every mission with an S ranking (stage bonus is not required) on any difficulty, they will be shown a piece of artwork of all the enemies and characters, bearing the message "You are the King of Hell."